EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/19/2024 9:17 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
“Intro to 1 John 2:18-27”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
1 John 2:18-27
Message of the verses: “18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard
that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this
we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not really
of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they
went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. 20 But you
have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not written to
you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because
no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is
the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23
Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son
has the Father also. 24 As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from
the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also
will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 This is the promise which He
Himself made to us: eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you
concerning those who are trying to deceive you. 27 As for you, the anointing
which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to
teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and
is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”
John MacArthur entitles this 9th chapter
in his commentary on First John “Antichrists and Christians.” I think that this will take me a fairly long
time to get through these verses, but the important thing is that I can make it
so those who read my Spiritual Diaries on these verses understands what they
mean and how they can impact your life for the cause of Christ.
I
begin with a quotation from MacArthur’s commentary. “Ever since the moment Satan and his demonic
forces rebelled against heaven, there has been a supernatural, God-opposing,
evil power throughout the universe (‘The world’ of 2:15-17). From its earliest chapters, the Bible shows
that the Evil One (cf. 2:13, 14) and all who function in his kingdom (Eph.
2:2-3; Col. 1:13) have constantly opposed God’s plan (e. g., the fall [Gen. 3];
the flood [Gen. 6:1-13]; the tower of Babel [Gen. 11:1-9]; Satan’s affliction
of Job [Job 1:6-27]). As the original
architect of the anti-God agenda, the Devil has always been the prime example
of the antichrist spirit and the energizer of the innumerable antichrists who
have followed his lead.”
There
is a lot of things that are packed into that paragraph and that is why I quoted
it. I realize that when God made the
earth that and then made Adam and Eve that Adam was the one who was to rule the
earth, but then came chapter three and Adam’s sin caused Satan to be the ruler
of the world system. Now I know that ultimately
God is in control and because Jesus defeated Satan at the cross his power is
certainly limited, but he still has much power.
Let me say that I believe that Satan is on a short leash that God is
holding and there is nothing that he can do unless God allows it to happen, and
that does not mean at all that God does anything wrong, for He cannot. I know that this world that we live in is
headed up by Satan, but became of being a believer I am not of this world, but
the world system diffidently has effect on me if I am not careful
The
term antichrist which is used in this section is only used in John’s letters,
the concept it expresses appears repeatedly through Scripture and here are some
verses that speak of it. (cf. Dan.
7:71.; 9:26-27; 11:36-39; Matt. 24:15; Mark 13:6; 2 Thess. 2:3, 8; Rev. 11:7;
13:1-10, 18; 17:1-18). I have written
many Spiritual Diaries on the book of Revelation which are on my blogs as I did
two studies on it. I have also written
Spiritual Diaries on both first and second Thess. which are also on my
blogs. Now antichrist is a compound word
that transliterates the Greek word antichristos
from christos , (“Christ”) and anti (against,” or “in the place of”). So with that definition it is pretty easy to
understand what this word means.
MacArthur writes “The term denotes anyone who opposes Christ, seeks to
supplant Him (Matt. 24:24; Mark 13:21-22), or falsely represents Him. Such
opposition always offers distorted and aberrant views about the nature of
Christ (cf. 2:john 7); for example, reflected in John’s definitive statement
that ‘every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the
spirit of the antichrist’ (1 John 4:3a).”
There is much more to say about this word “antichrist”
as it is my plan to continue looking at that in the next SD.
11/19/2024 9:51 PM
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